Today, President of Jalal Talabani Foundation Mohammad Sabir send his condolence for the passing of UK politician Ann Clwyd, and said “it is with huge sadness that I write to you to express my sincere condolences on behalf of President Jalal Talabani Foundation for the passing away of Ann Clwyd, former Labor Party MP, Ms. Ann was a courageous, fearless, principled political campaigner, she was the best friend of the Kurdish People who advocated most of her life standing up against the brutal repression of the Kurdish people in Iraq during the tough times, she supported and campaigned the removal of Saddam Hussein.”

“Her work over so many years for women's rights, international justice and peace will be remembered.” Ambassador Sabir added.

The ambassador mentioned that her passing, the Kurds have lost a sincere and important friend and her efforts to the Kurdish people will be remembered.

Clwyd passed away on July 22 at the age of 86. She was one of the few UK MPs that helped to introduce the Kurdish cause to the UK and the rest of the world and fought to protect their rights.

 

The Committee to Protect Journalists has investigated the case of Sherwan Sherwani, a prominent activist, and spoken to the lawyers and relatives of Sherwan Sherwani and Gohdar Zebari, who are part of the case and the group has published a report on their case

The committee said that the Erbil Criminal Court had not not listen to Zebari's statements when he had said he gave permission to Sherwan Sherwani to sign a petition on his behalf. Faking a signature was one of the main charges against Sherwani.

The CPJ has sent a message to the Ministry of Justice, but has not received any response, the group said in the report.

On Thursday, the Erbil Criminal Court on a complaint filed by the Kurdistan Regional Adult Corrections Directorate on charges of forgery of documents sentenced Sherwan Sherwani to another four years in prison.

Iraqi Minister of Justice Khalid Shuani told reporters at a news conference that the Council of Ministers approved a bill regarding the agricultural land in Kirkuk and the disputed territories and the bill will be sent to the House of Representatives.

Shuani also said the bill covers Kirkuk and the disputed territories and will not harm any community in those areas.

He said that after the bill is passed, anyone affected will be compensated by the federal government.

 

Nuri al-Maliki, the leader of the rule of law coalition, said in a televised interview about the relationship between the Da'wah party and the Sadr movement, and said that no political party or leader is against his return to politics.

Instead, the party has extended a hand of reconciliation to normalize relations, but his party and all other political parties are not against Sadr's return to politics, Al-Maliki noted.

Maliki also said that the issue belongs to the Sunni parties and must be resolved among themselves by a majority vote, and the Shiites support their final decision.

Regarding the appreciation of the dollar, al-Maliki said the Iraqi dinar began to depreciate against the dollar during the government of Mustafa Al-Kadhimi and as long as US sanctions on Iran remain, the dollar will not see stability in Iraq.

He predicted that Iraq would hold talks with Syria to revive the Iraqi oil pipeline, the port of Banias, which leads back to the Mediterranean Sea, the PM noted.

He said that as the security situation in Syria improves, work will be done to export oil through the Syrian port, which will allow them to deliver oil to their customers quicker.

"Syria has a very large and well-known port on the Mediterranean Sea, so if Syria agrees to participate in the development roadmap through the Iraq-Syria-Turkey triangle," Al-Sudani said.

Prime Minister of Iraq Al-Sudani visited Syria and met with President of Syria as the first Iraqi prime minister to visit Syria since 2011.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Tourism Board said in a statement today that tourism industry companies shall charge no fees on tourists for entering the riverbanks, resorts and tourist destinations.

The Tourism Board also warned that if any company fails to follow the new directive they would be fined.

The Kurdistan region is a famous tourist destination for many tourists from southern Iraq and parts of the Middle East.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has announced that Saturdays will be a public holiday in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRG).

Minister of Education Alan Hama Saeed said in a press conference that the new academic year 2023-2024 will begin on September 13, and classes will resume on September 13.

The Minister added that the KRG council of the Ministry of Education has decided to make Saturdays a holiday in all schools. Previously, Friday was the only holiday of the week for the public schools.  

A high-level delegation of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan will visit the Gorran Movement and the Kurdistan Social Democratic Party (KSDP) tomorrow, according sources within the PUK that old KurdSat.

The visits come before the scheduled Kurdastan parliamentary elections.

Kakarash Sadiq, head of the Kirkuk office of the Article 140 implementation committee, told Kurdsat that as a result of their continued efforts to oblige the relevant parties of the Iraqi government to implement Article 140 of the constitution the Kirkuk Court of Appeal and the Iraqi army have been instructed to comply with the constitution.

Kakarash Sadiq added the Iraqi president has submitted a litter Article 140 Committee to meet to implement Article 140 and the president closely follows the situation.

Hadi Amiri, leader of the Badir Organization has promised to visit the prime minister to follow up the implementation of Article 140, Sadiq noted.

Regarding the compensation under Article 140 for people damaged, Sadiq said 300 billion dinars have been allocated for this purpose and 7,000 Kurdish refugees from Kirkuk and 8,000 imported Arabs are on the compensation list.

Imported Arabs, referring to Saddam Hussein-relocated Arabs from southern Iraq  in 1980s, would no longer have their agricultural land leases extended by the Kirkuk authorities, according to the Kirkuk official.

 

During a visit to Baghdad Secretariat Prime Minister of Iraq Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said simplifying procedures and paperwork in public offices will eliminate corruption.

The PM noted that 90 percent of the building permit process involves corruption and obstacles and stressed on working to fight corrupt people and “parasites.”

According to Sudan, some people are charging citizens for parking on the streets as contractors without any legal authorization.

In a letter dated Monday July 10, 2023, a copy of which was seen by KurdSat is signed by the head of the office of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) sent to the Iraqi Independent High Election Commission (IHEC), and the letter reads that the KRG has asked the commission to show its readiness to supervise the Kurdistan parliamentary elections.

The document also states that the Kurdistan Parliamentary Elections will be held on November 18, 2023 which has been delayed for many years.

Omid Ahmad, spokesman for the Ministry of Electricity told KurdSat that electricity supply has been reduced to 14 hours due to high temperatures and 92% of the work of smart meters has been completed. Referring to meters that are aimed at reducing power waste in the region.

Ahmad noted that the demand for electricity has reached 5,500 MW while the production capacity is 3,800 to 4,000 MW and in some places where it is very hot, electricity is supplied for less than 14 hours.

The spokesperson added that over 1.35 million have been install and the rest needs budget and approval.

The Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement that another soldier was killed during Operation Claw-Lock in the Kurdistan region, without pinpointing the location.

Turkish Defense Ministry said that on July 11, a soldier named Erdem Kavlak was seriously wounded in the area of Operation Claw-Lock on and died after being transported to hospital.

The Turkish Defense Ministry expressed its condolences to the family of the soldier.

Turkey has launched Claw-Lock military operation on April 18, 2022 to eliminate security threats to the country. It includes the areas of Matina, Zab, Avashin and Basyan of the Kurdistan region.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani said in a statement today that he has reached an agreement with Iran to export to Iran crude oil and kerosene in exchange for Iranian gas.

Iraqi Prime Minister al-Sudani also added that the agreement would require Iraq to pay Iran's financial debts that could not be paid due to US sanctions.

He said the agreement between Iraq and Iran would end the gas shortage in Iraq and restore Iranian gas exports to the previous level of 10 million cubic feet per day.

In an interview with Alam TV President of Iraq Dr. Latif Rashid said, we will not allow any group to launch attacks on our neighbors from Iraq, and Iraq has strong coordination with Iran to secure their shared borders.

Talking on the Erbil-Baghdad relations the president noted that the relations between the two are good despite different opinions from both sides.

The president also said that the important thing is for the government to deliver its promises and work to make Iraq a self-reliant nation.

Halabja Deputy Governor Kawa Ali said that 12 trillion dinars worth of projects have been implemented in Halabja in the four years of the ninth cabinet, that is the current government.

The minimum legal share of Halabja province is 252 billion dinars of implemented projects, but in fact the implemented projects that have been actually spent by the ninth cabinet in Halabja province does not reach 10 billion dinars, the deputy said.

He added that if the 2.1% of the 12 trillion was actually spent on the province, the rest were spent on all projects that were stopped in 2010.

The deputy governor stressed that the truth is that the numbers should reach the citizens correctly, not exaggerating the numbers.